


It's Therapeutic

by lightsway



Category: Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Mild Language, slightly dysfunctional Sif/Thor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-27 06:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightsway/pseuds/lightsway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several months after the death of his fiancee and losing his job, Fandral has fallen into heavy drinking to try to forget and help pass the days with little pain. Sif, worried that he's on the road to drinking himself to death, convinces him to see a therapist in an attempt to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BombshellKell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BombshellKell/gifts).



> A request fill for Kellatrix on tumblr. It was meant to be a little drabble fill, but I wound up writing far more than expected. It's still a work in progress, so I'm not sure how many chapters this will go for.

“You should go to a therapist,” Sif suggested, and not for the first time. This was the fourth night in a row Fandral had stumbled drunkenly into her apartment, a bottle still in one hand and the smell of alcohol staining his breath.

“Fuck therapy,” he slurred to her as he draped himself around her and let her guide him to the couch, slinking back into the cushions and raising the bottle to his lips only to find it was empty. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine, Fandral,” she said with barely contained exasperation. “It’s been a year since she died-“

“This isn’t about her!”

Sif wanted to snap back, but caught her tongue before she could. Of course it was about her. Marian’s death coming only three years after the death of his father, added on top of dropping out of college and losing his job and his best friend moving out of the country and not keeping in touch…it was a wonder he could function at all. Though with how he was going, it wouldn’t be long before he drank himself into a coma, or to death. It always hurt to see the way he dealt with his pain. He was a sensitive being, as much as he wouldn’t admit to it, and when something went wrong he took it entirely to heart and felt the pain in a raw way that grated at his mind and soul.

Over the last year, he had gone from one or two beers every few days, to no less than five a night, and in Sif’s mind, it was a wonder he wasn’t dead already. She did what she could, but with trying to take care of her own failing relationship, there was little she emotionally felt ready to handle. She tried to be a constant support, though, a place he could go to when he needed to crash. She was closer to downtown where the best bars were, so he walked to her place when he was too drunk to drive (though he used to do that, too, thinking that he could escape everything if he drove into a tree and ended it all; but all he wound up with was his car crashed into a guardrail, some head trauma, a DUI, and whiplash, so he gave up on that endeavor.

With a sigh, she fell onto the couch beside him. “Fandral, come on. What about…if you go to one therapy session, I’ll buy you a beer. Two beers.”

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow that conveyed nothing but disgust. “You’re fucking kidding, right? Make it a twelve pack.”

“Fine, a twelve-pack.” She’d get him with particulars later. “And I’ll pay for your first session. Just…give it a chance. I think it could help.”

“Fuck.” He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, raising the bottle again, then let out another sigh when it was still empty. “Fuck. Will you stop nagging me about it if I go to one session?”

“Maybe. I might stop nagging you after three sessions.” She didn’t dare to hope that he would actually take her up on the offer. He was a stubborn man and if he didn’t think he needed it, he’d fight the issue until one of them was pissed, or until he stormed out. And considering he wasn’t leaving now that he was here and drunk off his ass, she put her bets on going to bed angry.

“God fucking damn it, Sif.” She ran his hand over his face and sighed again, leaning his head back against the couch. “I’m fine, alright? I don’t need therapy.”

“Right, of course. Because drinking at least eight beers a night for the last six months is completely normal for you.” She stood up and made to go to her room. “Couch is all yours. You puke, you clean it up, I’m not doing it.” She vaguely heard him mutter to himself as she left, but she didn’t care to stick around and find out what he’d said. If she could get away with going to bed mildly annoyed rather than pissed off, she’d take it.

 

* * *

 

Two weeks had passed and Fandral had somehow gotten Sif to stop pestering him about therapy. Little did she know, the night after he’d gone to her, he’d set up an appointment with some new lady in town. She was new to more than just the building, though; she was just awkward enough that he could tell she was new to her job as well. When he met her for the first time, it was in the lobby of the small, one-story building where her office was. She looked professional in high heels, a pencil skirt, and button-up shirt, her hair tied in a braid over one shoulder and a pair of thick-framed glasses over her eyes. She carried a fancy clipboard with various papers in her arm, and a pen was tucked behind her ear. If her braid had been a bun, he would have thought she’d dressed herself from a textbook of how to look like a librarian. That thought almost made him smile.

“Fandral,” she said with a smile, reaching out to shake his hand, and he couldn’t help but note her accent in how she said his name. “I am Sigyn, it is nice to meet you in person.”

“You make me sound famous or something,” he muttered as he shook her hand, immediately almost feeling ashamed of his appearance next to hers. He’d worn ripped jeans and an old hoodie, and he couldn’t remember if he’d brushed his hair before leaving. She didn’t seem to mind, though; she just laughed a cute laugh that he found endearing.

“I’m sorry,” she said, blushing lightly. “You are one of my first patients, so I apologize if I say something wrong. Speaking of, if I do offend or upset you in any way, please be honest and up front with me. We can only make progress if-“

“Progress?” He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “I’m only here for one session, doc, I don’t plan on coming back.”

She looked mildly surprised, but just nodded. “Of course. Well, then, shall we?” She gestured for him to follow her into a back room, nodding once at the secretary behind the front counter before going in behind him and shutting the door. She took a seat, and Fandral was already laying across the couch.

“I see you know how this works.”

“I watch TV, I know how it’s gonna go. So, go ahead, lady, pull your psycho-babble nonsense out and try to fix me. I’m broken beyond repair.”

“I am not here to fix you,” she said, adjusting her glasses. “I am here to help you.”

“Yeah, help fix me.”

“Tell me about yourself. Your…hobbies, your interests, your job, friends, family…just talk.” She sat back and pulled the pen from her hair and looked at him, waiting for him to start, and if she wasn’t so damn cute, Fandral probably would have been annoyed that he was here.

“Where are you from?” he asked first, turning to look at her, noting her brown eyes. “I hear the accent, but it’s just faint enough that I can’t catch it.”

“Australia. Sort of. My parents are from Australia, but I was born in California.”

“That sounds nice. Lots of sunshine.”

“I’ve only been to Australia once, when I was six, but yes, California is quite sunny and nice. I learned to surf while living there.”

“Why’d you move to this shithole?”

She gave a small laugh. “It isn’t so bad here. Admittedly, I have only been here a little more than two months, but it’s a good place to live. Not so big that it’s impersonal, but not so small that it is pointless.”

He scoffed at that. “Pointless. Alright, back on topic, I guess. I’m not spending this kind of money to discuss the weather. Alright, alright…ah, let’s see…I built printers for HP, which was cool. One of those jobs that you don’t really need a degree to do, just gotta be able to learn fast. I made bank, stored it all up, so getting fired hasn’t been too rough yet.” He looked over at her, watching her write something down, but raised an eyebrow when she didn’t press him further about losing his job.

“I moved out when I was eighteen, lived with a couple of friends for a while, Hogun, Volstagg, and Thor. Thor started dating Sif, though, and Hogun moved back to Japan, so we all sort of went our own ways. Thor might try to be roomies again since his and Sif’s relationship is kind of in the shitter right now. They’re great together, you know, fun couple, but I think they’re bored of each other. They’re so similar that I guess they’re not a challenge to each other anymore. Sif’s a champ, though. I turn to drinking for my problems, she just takes an extra MMA class on the weekends.”

He looked again at Sigyn, wondering what she was writing down, but still not questioning her. “I guess the stuff you’re really looking for is, like…” He tried to sound nonchalant about it, like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but his voice caught in his throat when he spoke and he knew she noticed by the way she looked up at him from her clipboard. “My dad died four years ago. We were really close. All that childhood ‘he’s my hero’ stuff and everything. I had it okay with my mom, but we sort of grew apart when my dad died. I thought for sure she’d check herself into an institute, she was so depressed. Guess I get my urge to drink from her.

“And uh…in high school, I met this girl I completely just fell for, which was weird for me. I lost my virginity at fifteen, fucked anyone who wanted it for two years, then this girl comes waltzing into my life and it was like a fucking…I don’t know, a sign or whatever, but I completely fell for her. Just…stopped having sex or going on dates with anyone else and went after her.”

“You loved her?” she asked him, interrupting for the first time.

“Yeah, I did. I did. We started dating right out of high school, and I proposed to her a little under two years ago. Ten-and-a-half months before she died. Her appendix burst and it killed her. She was just having stomach pains, super intense, and she thought they were cramps or something. She didn’t check herself into the hospital until it was too late. She died in late January, a little over a year ago. I- fuck, I’m sorry, we’re not supposed to talk about other people until the second date, right?”

Sigyn sat up straighter. “If you wish to be done, we can be, though you still have plenty of time left.”

“I don’t fucking know, lady, this is all stuff that…I don’t know.”

“Sometimes talking to a stranger with the promise of confidentiality is all someone needs to be able to get it all off their chest.”

“Well…what do you make of it all? Can you tell me that, or is that something I’m not allowed to know?”

She gave him a small smile and leaned forward slightly. “Well, I think it is too early to say, but I don’t think it’d be a stretch to say you are depressed, and rightfully so. Losing your father and your girlfriend, your friends moving away only to see one of them having troubles. Losing your job, excessive drinking-“

“I didn’t tell you the drinking was excessive,” he frowned.

“You didn’t need to. I can smell it.” She smiled, and he found himself smiling back without meaning to. “Now, you still have twenty-five minutes, so if you want to talk more, we can.”

He looked at her a moment longer, then let his smile widen slightly as he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s talk.”


	2. Chapter 2

Sif hurried out to the living room when she heard a knock at her door, barely not tripping in her heels. It was late, too late for visitors, which meant it could only be one person. She prepared herself for what was to come, but was surprised when she opened the door to see Fandral standing upright and smiling, the scent of beer nowhere near him. She raised an eyebrow, unsure if she was skeptical or proud, or perhaps a mixture of both, and let him in.

“You like nice tonight,” he said as he went to her fridge to pull out a bottled beer, then sat in his usual place on her couch. Well, she though, at least he’d chosen her place to drink tonight. “You getting pretty for Thor, or are you working the streets and not telling anyone.”

Sif rolled her eyes and sat beside him, going back to taking off her jewelry. “Thor and I went on a date tonight,” she said, trying to sound overly proud of them.

“Oh? How’d that go?” He raised the bottle to his lips and raised his eyebrows at her.

She considered lying, but then sighed and slouched back in her seat, shaking her head. “About as good as usual anymore. At least it didn’t end in  _entirely_  awkward silence this time. I don’t know, we’re trying, but you know, sometimes it just feels like it isn’t enough.” She shrugged. “Anyway, you’re here, and you’re lacking your usual aura of booze. What’s the occasion?”

“Eh, nothing really. Except you owe me a hundred bucks and a twelve pack of beer.” He raised the bottle and took another drink, somehow keeping a straight face as her eyes widened and she smiled.

“You went? You really did? Show me a bill or I’m calling bullshit.”

“I brought it just to show you.” He reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet and produced a folded up sheet of paper printed from Sigyn’s receptionist’s desk. “You can even call her if you think I typed that up myself.”

“No, it’s okay, I believe you.” She stared at the piece of paper, scanning the words and feeling proud of him that he’d actually gone. “Alright, then, here is…” She grabbed her wallet from her bag and handed him the cash. “One-hundred dollars. And I’ll get you a twelve pack tomorrow. You can have two of them when I get it.”

“Two twelve packs?”

“No, two beers.”

“Fucking bullshit.”

“I said I’d buy you a twelve pack, not that you could drink it.”

He rolled his eyes and groaned. “Fuck you and your loopholes. It’s a good thing I like you.”

“Well, tell me what she said, come on.” Sif shifted forward interestedly. 

He hesitated for a bit, taking a longer drink to drag it out and hope she changed the subject. When she didn’t he sighed. “Well, I talked for a while, just got some shit off my chest that I guess I didn’t know I really needed to get off. It was an interesting experience, I guess.” He shrugged and drank again. “She asked me to dinner.”

“She-” Sif’s eyes widened, then she crossed her arms. “No she didn’t.”

“Nah, she didn’t. She was cute, though. Small little thing, with these cute glasses. I think one of her college professors must have dressed her, though. She looked like the dictionary definition of ‘professional’.”

“Well, she’s a professional. But come on.” She nudged him impatiently with her foot. “What’d she say? What’s the verdict or diagnosis or whatever?”

He shrugged again and raised the bottle to his lips, feeling a bit uncomfortable, even though this was Sif, one of his best friends, if not his best friend. “Well, I didn’t really get to tell her everything, but she said…depression.” He felt ridiculous just saying it aloud. “With my dad, and Marian, and Hogun, and Thor, and losing my job, and-“

“What about Thor?” she asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

“Well, you know, you and Thor trying to move in together for a while was part of the reason we all moved out of the apartment. And now you two aren’t doing as well, and I don’t know. It doesn’t just affect you. You’re my best friend and maybe it doesn’t seem like it, but I hate when I can’t fix everyone’s problems. Yours is just another on a laundry list of problems that I try to drink away every night.”

She stared at him for a moment. “That’s the difference between us, Fandral. I try to manage my problems, solve them. You try to drown them with alcohol.”

“To each their own.” He raised his bottle to her and took another drink, but he must have sensed her growing irritation with him because he cleared his throat and changed the subject. “I might go back. To the…therapist. Don’t tell anyone.” He gave her a glare. “But talking…I dunno, it’s different than I expected. You know, on TV, there’s all this psychological nonsense and gibberish, and I was waiting for her to pull her psych 101 books out on me, but she didn’t. She let me talk, she listened, she didn’t interrupt much at all. She just told me to talk, so I did, and I dunno…it felt…” He shifted uncomfortably. “…Good.”

Sif smiled at him and took his bottle to take a drink from it. “Well, I’m glad. That you went, that you feel even a little better, and that you’re going back.”

“I said I  _might_  go back.”

“Right, sorry. I’m glad you  _might_  go back.”

He snatched the bottle away from her and took a longer drink, closing his eyes as he did. “I’ll probably go back.”

 

* * *

 

“Fandral.”

He smiled at the almost musical way her accent lilted his name, making it sound like he was a completely different Fandral, one that none of his friends knew or conversed with on a daily basis. “Hey Sigyn, how’s it going?”

“Alright. I admit, I didn’t expect to see you back. Do you have an appointment, I didn’t see your name on my schedule.” She looked down at the clipboard in her hands.

“Nah, I was coming to set up another one. I’m free basically any time, so, whenever, I guess. Except nothing before noon, I’m not generally coherent before noon.” He gave a small chuckle and shifted from one foot to the other.

She laughed and looked down again, her eyes scanning the sheet. “Well, my next appointment isn’t for another two hours. If you have the time, I can see you now.”

He shrugged and stuck his hands in his jeans. This pair had no holes, and he’d even gone so far as to wash them before coming here. “Sure, I’m free.”

“Alright, just right back there.” Fandral watched as she went to her secretary’s desk. “Hold my calls unless there’s an emergency. My father may call. Take a message, but let me know immediately.” The secretary nodded and Sigyn smiled, turning back to Fandral. “Alright, then, let’s go.”

Once in that room again, Fandral laid himself across the couch, crossing his ankles and tucking his hands behind his head. “Everything okay with your dad?”

“He’s been sick recently, in and out of the hospital, but getting better. Thank you.” She settled herself in her seat and crossed her legs. She was in a pantsuit this time. “Now, was there anything in particular you wanted to see me about?”

“No, I guess I just…wanted to talk again.” He felt just a bit uncomfortable with the question. Last time, there hadn’t been many questions from her, just the instruction to talk. But then again, this visit was pretty spontaneous.

She smiled and pulled the pen from her hair. “Then by all means, talk.”

He stared over at her for a few seconds, then turned to look up at the ceiling, licking his lips and thinking. There was so much on his mind, so much he felt like he needed to get out,he didn’t even know where to start. “So, um…” He let out a slow breath, then decided to dive in wherever his thoughts took him first. “My friend Sif, I told you about her?” He looked over and Sigyn nodded at him. “I’ve been staying with her a lot lately. Her apartment’s really close to downtown, so when I go to the bars, she’s close. But, I dunno, I guess part of me feels like maybe she needs someone as much as I do. And sure, yeah, I piss her off every once in a while, but she’s going through a rough time, too. When they were on, when she and Thor were on, they were really fuckin’ _on_ , and it was great. But since things started falling apart, it’s just weird now. And she helps me all the time when I’m having problems, so I want to return the favor, but I never really know how to.”

“Sometimes just being there is enough,” Sigyn said. “Having someone she knows and trusts might be enough. Has she asked you to specifically help her?”

He shook his head. “No, but I want to help take care of her. I like her. Not like that, she’s one of my best friends, and I hate when she’s hurting.”

“And you want to help her?”

“Of course. But all I’m good for is to listen when she’s upset. I suck at giving advice, I’m not that great at comforting or suggestions, and as much as I think they’d be better off without each other, that’s not my business. I know they’d stay friends if they broke up, but they’re both so stubborn, it won’t happen until the relationship’s dead twice over. But that’s the point, or at least that’s what Sif said. She tries to deal with her problems, while I just…drink them away.”

Sigyn looked up at him. “And?”

He turned his head to look at her, and again he caught himself just staring for a moment. “And…she’s right.” He pulled his hands from behind his head to rest on his stomach. “I’d rather spend my time avoiding a problem or pretending it doesn’t exist rather than just face it. Dealing with my dad’s death was enough, and then I felt…I don’t know, like I was losing control once everyone started moving on, Thor moving in with Sif for a while, and Hogun going back to Japan. I was gonna move in with Marian, and then she died, and…drinking is easier.”

“Have you tried dating again?” she asked, and Fandral almost felt offended.

“No. No, I was going to  _marry_  her, that’s not…that’s…”

“I understand, I apologize. I was merely curious.” She wrote something down, then looked back at him. “Do you feel like you’ve said goodbye to Marian? Properly?”

A sharp pain seemed to stab through his chest, and he thought about it, licking his lip slowly. “I don’t know. I haven’t gone to her grave since her funeral, but I think about her every day. And there’s this sort of guilt that just eats away at me if I start looking at other girls, and...”

“Fandral, what happened wasn’t your fault.”

“I know!” he snapped, but then calmed his tone. “I know. I…but what if I’d gotten her to the hospital sooner? Two hours sooner might have made all the difference.”

“Fandral,” she said again. “You can’t put the blame on yourself. Her death wasn’t your fault, and focusing on what could have been done differently won’t help you. You are living in the past when you should be moving forward. I’m not saying you should start dating again if you’re not ready to, but you need forgive yourself and-“

“I thought it wasn’t my fault.”

“It isn’t, but you feel as if you need someone to forgive you. No one can do that but you, and the sooner you can do that, the sooner you can get your life back on track and start looking ahead.”

He bit his lip and looked back up at the ceiling, then again at her. “You make sense, I guess. Maybe I’ll go see her.” He smiled when he saw Sigyn smile, and he watched her a moment before starting to talk again. Yeah, he could get used to this.


	3. Chapter 3

He went alone to her grave. Even though a year had passed, he still remembered exactly where she was buried, his feet taking him there as though of their own accord. He’d brought flowers for her; lilies, her favorite kind. He remembered when he proposed, he’d given her a single lily with the ring, and she’d hugged him so tightly, he joked that he’d never breathe right again. He’d never bought her flowers before then, and she hadn’t actually thought he’d known what her favorite was. He’d always loved surprising her like that.

Even though it was still winter and there was snow on the ground, the sun was shining, reflecting brightly off the white on the ground, but not blindingly so. Just enough that it made him smile as he went to her plot in the graveyard. Her headstone had flowers around it, withered ones that were scattered. It had been a while since anyone had been here, but he was glad that at least someone was visiting her. 

Carefully he lowered himself down by her headstone, staring at her name inscribed on it. “Hey baby,” he said softly. “I’m uh…I’m sorry I never visited.” He instantly felt ridiculous talking to a headstone, but he remembered what Sigyn had told him, so he kept going. He needed to get it all off his chest anyway; he could feel it weighing him down. He licked his lips and continued.

“Things have been…rough.” He scoffed, shaking his head. “More than rough. Thor and Sif aren’t doing so hot anymore. They’re trying, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going well. Hogun hasn’t really talked to us much since he moved back to Japan, either. And my mom…well…she’s alright. She and I don’t talk much anymore, but I call now and then. She seems better.” He ran his hand over his face and sighed. “I’m not doing so well. I’ve started drinking again. A lot. More than I ever did before. And uh…I lost my job because of the drinking. It’s been…it’s been rough.

“I…” He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes, resting one hand on her headstone, his fingers pressing into the grooves of her name. “I miss you. I miss you…so goddamn much, it hurts to even just wake up. And without a job to distract me…not that having a job did that anyway. But now it’s just…it’s so hard. All I want is to have you back, even though I know I never can. I’m not like…I’m not delusional. I’m not living with this false sense of hope that you’ll magically return to me if I drink enough. Fuck, all I get from drinking too much is a hangover and dirty looks from Sif. But I don’t get you back…and I’ve never fooled myself into thinking I would. You’re gone, and I know that. Doesn’t mean I don’t want you back, though.”

He sank further, to his knees, not caring about the snow getting his jeans wet, and sighed. “I know I gotta move on, baby, but sometimes I don’t want to. I can’t imagine being happy with anyone but you, and I guess that’s kept me from trying. I haven’t gone on a single date, or slept with another woman. I’ve been faithful to you, even though…” He cleared his throat and took a breath. “…Even though it’s really just your memory I’m being loyal to. Which is sentimental and all, I know, but…you were never really that type. You wouldn’t want this for me, and I’m not saying that to convince myself. You really wouldn’t want me to be this way, even if all we’d done is broken up and you hadn’t…you hadn’t died.”

“I love you, Marian, and a part of me always will. But I gotta let that other part of me move on and get a new job, and see other people, and try to be happy again. I…” He gave a small smile. “Maybe it’s stupid, or maybe it’s just because she lets me talk and doesn’t judge me, but…I kinda want to ask my therapist out. I really don’t know if it’s just because I feel comfortable talking with her because she’s my therapist, or if it’s genuine, but I  _think_  I kinda like her. A little bit. It’s that same kind of infatuation I had with you, and look where that led us. We got engaged.” He smiled and laughed softly. “And hell, maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s just ‘cause she looks cute in those glasses, and it’s been a long time since I’ve thought anyone was ‘cute’. But…I might ask her to dinner. Just to see. Because who knows where it could go, right?”

He sighed again and closed his eyes, biting his lip. “I wish you could answer me. You were always so practical, you’d know what’s going on in my head better than I do, and you’d be able to tell me, ‘ _Fandral, you’re being an idiot because girls in glasses are one of your weaknesses_ ’.” He laughed again, pressing a hand to his eyes, but still smiling. “Or maybe you’d tell me that it’s something to go for because even if there’s a small chance it’s something, it’s worth trying for. You were always so smart.” Slowly he breathed out, staring at her name, at the dates inscribed beneath it. “I love you, Marian. I hope I made you happy because you made me the happiest man alive, and I’ll never forget that.” Gently he laid the flowers on her grave and stood up, smiling and watching the petals move softly in the breeze. He wanted to cry, and his eyes were wet with unshed tears, but he felt better. 

 

* * *

 

He’d spent a while longer at the graveyard before heading home to change and get cleaned up, deciding he’d have to wash those jeans again soon. He was brushing his hair out, looking in the mirror, when he decided. He wasn’t sure what it was that spurred this on in his mind, but as he looked at himself, he realized he wanted to go out now. But not just out.

He dressed and pulled on his jacket and scarf, and drove downtown, parking close to Sif’s house. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he walked down the street, past all the bars and clubs, and towards the building he’d only frequented twice now, remembering the last time he’d left seeing her hours printed on the front door of her office. As he stepped inside, he smiled at the receptionist and sat down.

“Sigyn will be closing the office for the day in a few minutes,” she said, looking over the counter at him. “If you needed to schedule an appointment, I can do that for you now.”

Fandral shook his head. “No, it’s okay. Thanks, though. I just wanted to talk to her really quick.”

The receptionist nodded and went back to work, and right as 6:00 rolled around, Sigyn opened the door and stepped out, smiling and shaking the hand of another of her patients. She looked surprised to see Fandral, and after the woman had left and Sigyn handed a file folder to the receptionist, she turned to Fandral. 

“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I wasn’t expecting you.” She moved to stand in front of him, smiling, and he felt himself smiling back without realizing it. “What can I help you with?”

“Sigyn?” the woman behind the counter stood. “Is it alright if I go? It’s my anniversary and we have dinner plans.”

“Oh, absolutely, go on ahead. I can close up.” Sigyn smiled as the other woman left, then turned back to Fandral. “Anyway, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, really. I guess I just wanted to see if you’d like…” He took a breath. “Did you want to go to dinner with me?”

“Fandral, I can’t go on dates with my patients.”

“No one said it was a date, certainly not me. I just wanted to take you to dinner as a…a thank you. You’ve helped me a lot, even if it’s only been two sessions, and…really. I just wanted to thank you.”

She bowed her head slightly and nodded. “Business only?”

“Business only,” he promised, his smile growing as he stood up. “I promise, it’s purely as a thank you for helping me out so much.”

“Alright, then. Let me get my coat.”

He watched her grab her things from her back room and slip her coat on, buttoning it up and shouldering her bag. They picked a place to meet, then briefly went their separate ways to go to their cars, and fifteen minutes later, they were being seated at a steakhouse, ordering drinks and dinner.

“So, do you always treat your doctors to dinner?” she asked with a small laugh.

“Only when they help me this much. So…this is a first, actually.” He grinned and actually felt his face get warm. “I’m not very good at stuff like this anymore.”

“It’s alright. Can I be honest with you for a minute?”

He nodded. “You can be honest with me any time you want to.”

“Well…you’re actually the first person who I’ve actually done anything with here. I haven’t really made any friends yet, and I don’t know anyone. My secretary is married and has a little boy, so she spends most of her time with her family. We don’t have much in common anyway, but we never have the sentiment of maybe one day going to dinner. And…I don’t know, it’s not easy to make friends in my field of work, I suppose.” She shrugged and sat back. “It is, admittedly, nice to get out of the house to a place that isn’t work.”

“Well, I’m happy I could help with that.” He grinned and tapped his fingers nervously against his glass. “But if you don’t know anyone, why move here of all places?”

“It was a job opening, and it’s quiet out here. There aren’t psychologist offices for at least a hundred miles, so I feel like I can do my job peacefully. And it’s nice here. I’m just not very adept at meeting new people, and I’m too…shy, I guess, to try and blind date. Way too many ways that could go wrong.” She laughed and a soft blush colored her cheeks.

“I’d try to help, but short of my friends, the amusement park, and the bars, I’m not a very social person myself.”

“Well, thank you. Even if it’s just a ‘thank you’ dinner, I’m glad to get out of the house for once.”

“Glad to help.” It seemed strange to him that she could stay single for long, but he didn’t say so. “So um…I went to Marian’s grave today.” He looked up at her, hoping she wouldn’t stop him and tell him they had to wait for another session, but she didn’t interrupt him at all. “It was nice. I mean, not nice, but you know…I got to say a lot of the stuff I’ve needed to for a long time. It’s like…you know that cliche ‘I feel like a weight’s been lifted off my chest’?” She nodded. “It’s like that. Maybe I’ll go back and see her every so often. I thought going to see her would make me feel worse, but I actually feel better.”

“That’s so good, Fandral,” she smiled. 

“Yeah…I’m gonna work on my resume tomorrow and start sending it out again.”

“Excellent. Would you like a drink to celebrate?”

“You’ve no fucking idea how much I want a drink.” He laughed, but realized how that must have sounded considering his drinking. “But…but…maybe just one.” And a couple more when he went to Sif’s place.

“Alright, then. Just one.”

She ordered a glass of wine and he ordered a beer to come with dinner, and the night seemed to pass far too quickly for his taste. Their conversation went to lighter topics, and by the time they left, they were both smiling and laughing.

“Thanks again, Fandral. Or maybe it’s…you’re welcome.” She laughed, looking down at the ground. “Anyway, if you want, you know how to reach me. I’ll see you later.” She smiled and started back to her car.

He wasn’t sure if that was an invitation to schedule another appointment, or to ask her to dinner, and he didn’t care to clarify, either. “See you!” he called after her, turning to head towards Sif’s place.


End file.
